1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to windlasses and in particular to a windlass which is motor driven to raise an anchor or other heavy object while allowing the object to freefall in a controlled manner through use of a governor on the cable spool of the windlass.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Recreational boats, as well as other crafts of similar size, frequently include power operated windlasses or anchor winches capable of automatically dropping, locking, or raising an anchor. Sometimes, the motor is reversible to raise the anchor or lower the anchor in a controlled manner, but many times the anchor is lowered through gravity so that the anchor freefalls through the water to its destination.
As will be appreciated, when an anchor and its cable is allowed to drop by gravity at a relatively fast speed, the cable will sometimes overrun the spool on which it is wrapped throwing the cable off the spool. When this happens, the cable can become entangled with itself leading to a malfunction of the windlass and a great deal of trouble in untangling the cable.
It would therefore be desirable to control the movement of the cable spool even in a freefall windlass so that the cable does not become entangled with itself and possibly the spool to thereby avoid malfunctioning of the windlass. It is to provide a system for controlling a freefall windlass that the present invention has been developed.